UIDAI to issue Virtual IDs for Aadhaar to strengthen privacy

The Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) has introduced two new features to strengthen the privacy of any user amid the recent controversy surrounding the biometric details of anybody available in 10 minutes. The new features are Virtual ID for Aadhaar card and Limited KYC (Know Your Customer).

The Virtual ID, which would be a random 16-digit number, together with biometrics of the user would give any authorized agency like a mobile company limited details like name, address, and photograph, which are enough for any verification. The Virtual ID would be helpful while doing any Aadhaar based transaction since the user would not have to provide his Aadhaar number.

UIDAI said that a user can generate as many virtual Ids as he wants. However, the older ID gets automatically canceled once a fresh one is generated. UIDAI will start accepting these IDs from March 1, 2018.

The authority has also introduced the concept of Limited KYC which provides limited details of the user to an authorized agency that is providing a particular service. The limited KYC system will generate a unique ID for the different agencies that need the Aadhaar details. This way, the actual Aadhaar data of users do not get stored in any database.

All the agencies will migrate to the new systems by June 1, 2018, UIDAI said.